I Met the Doctor (Continued)

A few people had run into the building being renovated across from the record store. We ran in as well. There were a multitude of corners and nooks and crannies and piles of building materials to hide behind. But, by the sound of the crashes, I didn't think anywhere would be very safe. Particularly when everything is made out of wood - if Godzilla is coming...

"It's not Godzilla" he said as everyone found their own place to hide.
I cowered in a corner behind a pile of rubbish that I tried to pull closer and over me to keep from being seen. The crashing was close now. The room suddenly went dark and I looked up to see something was now covering all the windows along one side of the building. It looked like green blue scaly skin, and at one window I saw a gigantic eye peering in to try and find us. More loud crashing moved around each side of the building and all the windows darkened. Then, what sounded like marching, hundreds marching along the boardwalk out side.

One of my fellow cowerers in the same room loudly whispered, "It's sending in the soldiers!"
"Soldiers?" I thought, "What sort of monster sends in soldiers?"

The marching stopped then started in through the front door of our building. Marching from room to room, stopping to look in then moving on to the next room. I heard the marching enter my room. I couldn't just lie there and wait. I picked up a metal bar and a lump of wood from the pile and jumped out from behind my protection, ready to take on anything that was in front of me... and I saw... nothing.
I tiptoed closer to the door, I don't know what made me look down but I did and there, just inside the doorway I could just make out the microscopic figures that were making all the noise. I squinted to try and get a better view as I leaned forward. What looked like a dark stain on the wooden floorboards was a microscopic army of hundreds of medieval Japanese soldiers, dressed in full armour with swords held high. They marched forward, sounding thousands of times larger than they actually were. An old man who had been hiding in the next room caught a glance of them as he rushed past the doorway. He stepped into the room and, without hesitation stamped his boot onto the miniature soldiers as if they were a pesky insect. He lifted his foot to inspect the damage and as he was trying to wipe away the sticky remnants of the microscopic army the man with the bow tie saw and scowled.
"Oh no. You didn't have to do that. What were they going to do? Stab your big toe? Oh that's horrible and completely unnecessary. I bet you're a spider stamper too."
"But they were ..." the old man tried to think of a convincing excuse, "scary."
"I suppose the big green thing at the window is scary too."
"Well... ah... isn't it?" the old man asked.
"I think you'll find," said the bow tie man as if concluding an important lecture, "that it is just a projection!"

At which point all noise ceased. What was at the window had disappeared. A group of us circled the outside of the building. I found a small metal version of the monster that appeared at the window. It looked like a wind up mechanical toy. It seemed safe enough so I picked it up and brought it back for the others to see. The man with the bow tie continued his lecture:
"Yes, it is a monster. Yes, it is alien. No, it wasn't going to hurt anyone."
"But the noise, and the size of it." I reminded him.
"Just a projection. That is its natural ability, and its defence mechanism."
"And the miniature Japanese soldiers?"
"Well, they aren't Japanese. Something acquired along the way to help protect our little metal monster projector. I don't think they quite got the scale of things. Still, not a reason to squish them into the floorboards." again he scowled at the old man.
"Can I look after it?" A young boy asked pointing at the little mechanical monster. I passed it to him and he ran off as if it was Christmas morning.

I turned back to the bow tie man, "I know who you are," I said pointing, "You're the..."
"Doctor", my daughter had just returned and completed my sentence for me.
"Maddie," he heartily yelled as she ran up and gave him the biggest hug. "And Bella," who hugged him too. They had told me about this Doctor character who they met while visiting some friends in London. He was a friend of Clara and the kids they befriended on our last visit. I never believed the stories they told me but now it all seemed completely possible.
"So girls, like to go for another ride? All of space and time."
He didn't have to ask twice and they ran off.
Leaving me trying to come to terms with the day's events and the fact that I have time travelling daughters.

I Met the Doctor

I was holidaying with my daughters in a strange little sea side town. The whole town was built on the cliffs leading down to the ocean. All the buildings were made of dark brown, almost black wood looking like they were from ancient medievil japan. Every building was inter-connected with wooden stairs and boardwalks so that you could walk all the way from the cliff tops down to the sea. Inside these ancient looking buildings were modern stores - fruit and vegetable markets, clothing boutiques, craft shops. About half way down from the cliff top it all leveled out a little and there were two large buildings on either side of the boardwalk. One was empty due to being renovated to be turned into a new shop. The other was a giant second hand record store. I had never seen so much 12 inch vinyl. I told my daughters to continue shopping - this is where I would be for the rest of the day.

There were rooms leading off other rooms, all filled with trestle tables covered with boxes and boxes of vinyl records. There was even a section of rooms devoted to second hand musical instruments with hundreds of old and quirky electric guitars and amplifiers. This was heaven. I wanted to move in.

After an hour or so of flicking through the records and finding more than a few that I would like to buy the general ambiance was rocked by a loud crash. All the record buyers looked up from the box they were perusing, all with a terrified look of pure horror. Some quickly headed for the front door. Then there was a second loud crash, it sounded like something large and heavy had crashed into the wooden levels below us. Then a further crash and everyone exited the shop and frantically climbed the stairs, all in a panic to get to the top of the cliffs and all yelling indecipherable things about giant monsters. I was alone in the shop. I worried where my daughters were and if they were safe. As I moved to the next room to make my way out I saw one other person, standing there looking puzzled. He was dressed in a tweed coat with a bow tie that he straightened as he thought about the situation.
"I know you," I said, "you're the..."
"I know." he replied before I could finish.
"Everyone's scared out of their brains. What do you think they mean by monster?"
"Well, loud crash, people screaming, Japanese architecture. Haven't you seen a Godzilla movie?" He didn't seem as concerned as I thought he should be.
We both ran out of the second hand record store to see what we could see. Nothing but scared, confused people. More loud crashes... getting closer.